mill in this county belongs. Some claim it for Dennis Martin, and others
award it to Charles Brown. Probably the honor should properly be divided
between them, for in the same year ― 1847 ― Brown put up a mill on the
Mountain Home Ranch, and Martin built one on San Francisquito Creek. The
THE REDWOOD F0RESTS.
One of the first things which attracted
the attention of Americans and other
foreigners on their arrival in central or
northern California, when the country was
under Mexican rule, was the redwood forests
of the coast counties; and there many of the
first comers to the province commenced their
California life.
This is especially true of San Mateo
county. It is believed that the first foreign
settler in the county (though Joseph Chap-
man, who came in 1818, was the first in the
county) was one William Smith, known at
the time as “Bill, the sawyer.” The late
James Pease claimed to have deserted from
a Hudson Bay Company’s ship, the Nereid,
in Yerba Buena, in 1823 or 1824, and that
■ he wandered into the redwoods near Wood-
side, where he found Smith, who was married
at the time, and lived in a hut with his wife
and baby, near where John Coppinger after-
ward built his residence. He was the only
foreigner there, and had already dug a saw
pit, felled some trees, cut them into proper
lengths, and had sawed some lumber, with
much difficulty. He had to get his Indian
help from the missions. The arrival of Pease
was a fortunate event for “Bill, the sawyer,”
who at once engaged the newcomer as an
assistant. They cut timber for a number of
years with whipsaws, and supplied the Cali-
fornians with such timber as they needed in
the adobe houses, which were being built
then on the ranches of that region.
They worked at this business alone for
several years. One day, however, they were
joined by George Ferguson, who had de-
serted from a ship at Sausalito, and who, after
many adventures, arrived in the redwoods.
Ferguson took up a claim near Smith and
Pease, and was soon after joined by a fellow-
seaman named James Weeks. From that
time on others came, but did not remain per-
manently, until the arrival of John Coppin-
ger, a deserter from the British navy, in 1834
or 1835. He set about felling trees and
making lumber in a systematic manner, pro-
curing the aid of Californians, Indians, and
of foreigners, whenever they could be- found.
James Weeks was first employed by ” Bill
the sawyer,” and Ferguson, who was with
Smith when he came. He stayed there some
time, learning to whipsaw, and afterward
went with Ferguson to San Jose, and built
the first flourmill there. He then returned
to the redwoods, and with Smith built a saw-
pit, felled trees, and began to hew lumber for
sawing, sometimes sleeping in the pit, the
log cabin of Bill being some distance from
the work. Smith and Weeks parted when
Coppinger came, and Weeks joined the latter
in making shingles and sawing lumber.
He gives the following picture of his
Arcadian life in the San Mateo redwoods:
“I spent a happy life working in the Pul-
gas redwoods. Sometimes I would go to San
Jose, Yerba Buena, Santa Clara, Monterey
or Santa Cruz; was not overburdened with
constant hard labor. Our time was our own,
and we knew how to enjoy it. Except the
house of ‘ Bill, the sawyer,’ and the residence
of the Soto family, there was not a building
in the township. The Indians who had not
been gathered into the fold of the missions,
had rancherias in the canons amid timber-clad
mountains. Hill and vale were alike thronged
with game, while the herds of the ranches
roamed literally upon a thousand hills.
” The marsh lands occupied a greater area
than they do to-day, while the cultivated or
occupied (pasture) lands were covered with
wild oats that grew ‘shoulder high with a
horseman.’
” Thus the land lay for many quiet and
peaceful years. Immigration began in 1841,
and increased with each succeeding year,
compounding in numbers like interest on a
note of hand in the flush times of the gold
discovery.
” In 1844, Dennis Martin arrived in the
Sacramento valley, and in the following year
came into San Mateo redwoods, to the Corte
Madera rancho, then owned by John Cop-
pinger, James Pease, John Pepper and Charles
Brown was then there. Brown was occupy-
ing the Mountain Home ranch.
” The country was now on the eve of an
eventful change. It passed under the sov-
ereignty of the United States in 1846, but
nothing more than the rumor of the war with
Mexico reached the shades of the San Mateo
redwoods.
” It was not so with the discoveiy of gold,
which took place two years later. That event
came like an electric shock, and was felt in
every town, mission, ranch and camp, not
only in California, but throughout the civil-
ized world. Dennis Martin and others rushed
from the peaceful redwoods to the gold pla-
cers. Martin, contrary to the general rule,
was successful; and in 1850 he returned and
located near Searsville, and in the fall of that
year, he erected a water-power sawmill on
San Francisquito creek, about three-fourths
of a mile below Searsville. This was the first
sawmill ever built in the country. But it
was only run for a few weeks, when it was
carried away by a flood.
” The next mill was built by a man named
De’ Hart, on the Mountain Home ranch, then
owned by Charley Brown. De Hart let a
contract to one Whipple to run the lumber
to the tail of the mill at $25 per 1,000.
Whipple soon made money enough to buy
the mill, selling a large quantity of lumber at
$75 a 1,000, for which he did not have to pay
for the hauling at the rate of $25 per 1,000.
He afterward moved the mill and broke up.